Housing the Homeless

Welcome to my first action project for my class, Policy, where we learned about the different bodies of government and how they can work with one another. This first unit being called, Legislate. We began with looking at the Civil Rights Act and the impact it still has on our country today. From there, we looked at dialectic's and created our own in class. From there we looked at checks and balances in the government and how each part of the government works with one another. We then looked at bills and the long journey that they go through to get signed into laws. Once understanding the process these bills go through, we created a timeline of the most known bills passed in our history. Our field experiences have led us to understand how to apply these bills on a larger scale.

"Cut up Dollar Bill" by Images_of_Money is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

This action project involves  writing a letter to a person in governmental power to get a specific bill passed into law about an issue in our communities. I decided to tackle homelessness as my issue and write to senator Robert Peters to see if something could be done with the issue.



Here's my letter to Alder Robert Peter Below:

Dear Senator Peters,

Wall Street Chicago states that in January of 2022, 582,462 people experienced homelessness on a single night. Could you imagine being homeless on a winter night in Illinois? I live in Chicago and ever since I was young I've worried about homelessness as an issue. Currently I attend a school that has opened my mind up to the issues of the displacement of un-housed people in Illinois. Homelessness is an issue that still has a big impact on our state. Lack of housing could happen to someone because of the loss of a job, challenging health conditions, or a financial crisis. I am writing to ask you to support bill SB1376 because it will help to address the complex problem of homelessness in Illinois.

Housing Action Illinois states that about 10,431 people experience homelessness in the state. This means that a huge chunk of citizens are being forced out onto the streets without alternative shelter. WTTW states that nearly 40,000 Illinois public school students have gone through homelessness. Some students have been put into these positions because they don't get help from the government or other organizations. With this issue only getting worse, it makes me question who else might be next to be put on the streets because of a lack of support. Will it always be this way and is there anything that might aid a new beginning?

Housing Action Illinois states that 1 in 10 young adults ages 18-25, and at least 1 in 30 adolescents ages 13-17, experience some form of homelessness unaccompanied by a parent or guardian over the course of a year. This shows that not everyone has the same access to a home. It also illustrates how many young people are unhoused. Though it might seem daunting, there is a way to begin conversations to fix these issues.

The current bill, known as SB1376 or Housing Homeless-Vets and Families states, “In a provision listing certain factors a referring agency must consider prior to referring a homeless family with school age children to a shelter, requires the referring agency to also consider the military status of any member of the family to determine the family's eligibility for State or federal benefits and other supportive services for homeless veterans and their families, including, but not limited to, housing or rental assistance, job training, and employment opportunities.” It also requires an agency to consider if a family is or isn’t up for federal benefits from the government. If this gets signed, shelters will consider the placement of people throughout Illinois. This bill should be signed into law because it will give new opportunities to shelter the unhoused and have a direct impact on the lives of unhoused people

There may be backlash for passing this bill. Some people might say that putting this bill into law only affects the unhoused who are veterans or students. This would limit those who might not fall under those categories. However, this bill would be an important step towards solving the issue. Passing this bill could be an important way to pave a way to support the unhoused. There are bills like HB2831 which will provide a chair for community voices in what will happen with homelessness throughout the state. With bills like this in mind, it gives more reason why bill SB1376 should be signed into law because it will help even more of the homeless population.

This bill will help to begin to address one of the issues, because it will create more opportunities for homeless people to find open places. It will offer support for more of the people who are without shelter in our communities. In closing, I ask you to support bill SB1376 because it will help to address the complex problem of homelessness in Illinois. I hope you choose to push this bill to the forefront.


Sincerely,

Brooks Lansana

"Che Guevara, Graffiti, and Homeless Woman" by Franco Folini is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.


When writing this letter, I had to look deep into the issues of homelessness in Illinois and understand how I could speak to them. I did enjoy writing this out because it allowed me to express my opinions on an issue that has a direct impact on communities in Illinois and introducing a way to fix it. I did find it difficult to see who I should be writing this act to and what importance it would have in the long run. Once I did find that person, it did make it easier to write the letter above. If I were to do this project in a different way, I'd want to see how writing about a different bill could affect my response and what impact it would have.


Sources:



Cormier, R. (n.d.). Illinois bill to combat homelessness passes. Northern Star. https://northernstar.info/107035/news/illinois-homeless-bill-passed-in-both-houses/

Ending homelessness. Housing Action Illinois. (n.d.). https://housingactionil.org/what-we-do/advocacy/homelessness/#:~:text=Contributing%20factors%20range%20from%20a,the%20lack%20of%20a%20home

Illinois. National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2019a, August 15). https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness-report/illinois/

Illinois SB1376: 2023-2024: 103rd general assembly. LegiScan. (n.d.). https://legiscan.com/IL/text/SB1376/id/2804196

Illinois SB1376. TrackBill. (n.d.). https://trackbill.com/bill/illinois-senate-bill-1376-housing-homeless-vets-family/2355875/

New report finds at least 65,000 people experiencing homelessness in Chicago. WTTW News. (n.d.-a). https://news.wttw.com/2022/10/05/new-report-finds-least-65000-people-experiencing-homelessness-chicago

Stebbins, S. (2023, February 9). How Illinois’s homelessness problem compares to the nation. 247 Wall St. https://247wallst.com/state/how-illinoiss-homelessness-problem-compares-to-the-nation/?utm_source=patch-chicago%26utm_medium